Method and system for providing optimized ethernet communication for vehicle

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are methods for allocating an address to an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) on an in-vehicle Ethernet network and devices therefor. A method may include allocating a first address value identifying the in-vehicle Ethernet network, allocating a second address value identifying a domain corresponding to the ECU, allocating a third address value identifying a group of ECUs in the allocated domain, allocating a fourth address value identifying the ECU in the group, and generating an IP address including the allocated first to fourth address values. The generated IP address is set as a fixed IP address of the ECU.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.10-2015-0053721, filed on Apr. 16, 2015, which is hereby incorporated byreference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an in-vehicle Ethernet communicationmethod, and more particularly, to a method and system for providing anoptimized Ethernet communication method for a vehicle through which anin-vehicle Ethernet software stack architecture to provide Ethernetcommunication optimized for vehicle environments is provided, therebyachieving improvements in system processing speed and cost reduction.

BACKGROUND

The statements in this section merely provide background informationrelated to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.

In the automobile industry, research into applying conventional Ethernettechnology to vehicles is underway.

In current vehicle networks, the number of in-vehicle electronic controlunits (ECUs) and complexity of the ECUs are increasing and a highbandwidth and fusion are required due to a demand for advanced driverassistance systems (ADASs), infotainment and diagnostic devices.

Therefore, vehicle manufacturers, in-vehicle part manufacturers andin-vehicle semiconductor companies propose requirements for new networkswhich may replace the conventional vehicle networks.

Accordingly, research for applying Ethernet technology, which is widelyused in data communication networks, to a vehicle network is underway.

If Ethernet technology is used as a vehicle network, a high bandwidthmay be provided and the number of ECUs and system complexity may bereduced.

Further, if Ethernet is applied to a vehicle network, a conventionalheavy cable may be replaced with an Ethernet cable, thereby reducingvehicle weight and overall parts costs.

For these reasons, major international vehicle companies are recentlycarrying out research and development of commercial products by applyingEthernet technology to vehicles and standards organizations are activelyworking on Ethernet standards for in-vehicle networks.

International standards organizations including OPENSOG and the likecarry out standardization of in-vehicle Ethernet technology,particularly, physical layers, now, and vehicle manufacturers definesoftware stack architectures for application of in-vehicle Ethernet ontheir own.

However, conventionally used Ethernet technology and Ethernet technologywhich has been defined in AUTmotive Open System Architecture (AUTOSAR)are not optimized for vehicle environments.

Particularly, an in-vehicle Ethernet software stack architecture definedin AUTOSAR has elements which are not adapted to vehicle environments.Thus network processing speed may be lowered, and usage of a memory inan ECU is increased, thereby increasing overall system load and costs.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure is directed to methods and systems for providingan optimized Ethernet communication method for a vehicle thatsubstantially addresses one or more problems due to limitations anddisadvantages of the related art.

An object of the present disclosure is to provide methods and systemsfor providing an optimized Ethernet communication method for a vehicle.

Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a softwarehierarchical structure for supporting Ethernet communication optimizedfor vehicle environments.

Another object of the present disclosure is to provide methods andsystems for providing an optimized Ethernet communication method for avehicle through which network management/control/diagnosis messagetransmission functions in a conventional Controller Area Network (CAN)may be provided to Ethernet environments.

Another object of the present disclosure is to provide an Ethernetmiddleware structure adapted to vehicle environments.

Another object of the present disclosure is to provide methods andsystems for providing an optimized Ethernet communication method for avehicle through which a network initialization speed may be improved byapplying a static IP allocation policy to each ECU in the vehicle.

Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide methods andsystems for providing an optimized Ethernet communication method for avehicle through which a system processing speed and complexity may beimproved by deleting and/or integrating unnecessary modules andfunctions in a conventional Ethernet software architecture.

Additional advantages, objects, and features will be set forth in partin the description which follows and in part will become apparent tothose having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the followingor may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives andother advantages may be realized and attained by the structureparticularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof aswell as the appended drawings.

To achieve these objects and other advantages, as embodied and broadlydescribed herein, a method for allocating an address to an ElectronicControl Unit (ECU) on an in-vehicle Ethernet network includes allocatinga first address value to identify the in-vehicle Ethernet network,allocating a second address value to identify a domain corresponding tothe ECU, allocating a third address value to identify a group of ECUs inthe allocated domain, allocating a fourth address value to identify theECU in the group, and generating an IP address including the allocatedfirst to fourth address values, wherein the generated IP address is setas a fixed IP address of the ECU.

An interconnection structure of at least one ECU included in the groupmay be identified using the fourth address value.

Further, the IP address may have an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4)address scheme.

Further, the IP address may be allocated within the range of class A ofprivate internet addresses defined in Request For Comment 1918(RFC-1918).

Further, multicasting on the in-vehicle Ethernet network may becontrolled using the first to fourth address values of an IP packet tobe transmitted.

Broadcasting in a gateway unit may be controlled using the first andsecond address values included in a destination IP address.

Further, broadcasting in a domain unit may be controlled using the firstand third address values included in a destination IP address.

Further, broadcasting in a group unit may be controlled using the firstand fourth address values included in a destination IP address.

Further, the group may include at least one ECU requiring the samesecurity level.

Further, the domain may include at least one of a body domain, apowertrain domain, a multimedia domain and a chassis domain.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a device for allocating an addressto an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) connected to an in-vehicle Ethernetnetwork includes a unit to receive first information to identify adomain connected to a gateway, a unit to receive second information toidentify the ECU in the domain, a unit to generate an IP addresscorresponding to the first and second information with reference to apre-defined IP address allocation rule, and a unit to allocate thegenerated IP address to the ECU.

Here, the domain may include at least one of a body domain, a powertraindomain, a multimedia domain and a chassis domain.

Further, the second information may include third information toidentify a group in the domain and fourth information to identify aninterconnection structure of ECUs in the group and an ECU type.

Further, the group may include at least one ECU requiring the samesecurity level.

The device may further include a unit to transmit the IP addressallocated to the ECU to the gateway, and the gateway may set theallocated IP address as a fixed IP address of the ECU.

The device may further include a unit to generate an in-vehicle Ethernetrouting table in which IP addresses according to domains and groups aremapped and a unit to transmit the generated in-vehicle. Ethernet routingtable to the gateway.

In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a gateway forallocating an address to an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) connected toan in-vehicle Ethernet network by interworking with an external deviceincludes a unit to receive an in-vehicle Ethernet routing table, inwhich IP addresses allocated to the ECU according to domains and groupsof the in-vehicle Ethernet network are mapped, from the external device,a unit to set an IP address allocated to the ECU using the in-vehicleEthernet routing table, and a unit to transmit the in-vehicle Ethernetrouting table to the ECU using the set IP address, wherein the gatewayand the ECU control transmission and reception of an IP packet using thein-vehicle Ethernet routing table.

When the IP packet is received, multicasting on the in-vehicle Ethernetnetwork may be controlled using a destination IP address included in theIP packet and the in-vehicle Ethernet routing table.

Further, the IP address may include a first address value to identifythe gateway, a second value to identify a domain connected to thegateway, a third value to identify a group in the domain, and a fourthvalue to identify an ECU type in the group.

Further, broadcasting in a gateway unit may be controlled using thefirst and second address values included in the destination IP address.

Further, broadcasting in a domain unit may be controlled using the firstand third address values included in the destination IP address.

Further, broadcasting in a group unit may be controlled using the firstand fourth address values included in the destination IP address.

Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the descriptionprovided herein. It should be understood that the description andspecific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and arenot intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the disclosure may be well understood, there will now bedescribed various forms thereof, given by way of example, referencebeing made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a software hierarchical structureof an electronic control unit mounted in a vehicle;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a protocol structure of IPmiddleware;

FIG. 3 is an in-vehicle Ethernet routing table illustrating an IPaddress allocation rule in in-vehicle Ethernet environments;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a hierarchical structure of anin-vehicle Ethernet system;

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating a method for allocating an address basedon interconnection relations among electronic control units in a group;

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating an address allocation method in anin-vehicle Ethernet network;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an IP address allocation method in anaddress allocation device;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an IP packet monitoring method in anOBD terminal connected to a gateway; and

FIG. 9 is a broadcast IP address table illustrating an IP addresssetting method for broadcasting.

The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and arenot intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is notintended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses. Itshould be understood that throughout the drawings, correspondingreference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts and features.

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. The suffixes “module” and “unit” in elements used in thedescription below are given or used together only in consideration ofease in preparation of the specification and do not have distinctivemeanings or functions.

Although the described embodiments include all elements as beingcombined into one unit or operated as one unit, the present invention isnot limited thereto. That is, all elements may be selectively combinedinto one or more units and thus operated within the scope of the presentinvention. Further, although all elements may be implemented asindependent hardware components, some or all of the respective elementsmay be selectively combined and implemented as a computer program havinga program module in which one or plural hardware components perform thefunctions of the combined elements. Codes and code segments of such acomputer program may be easily deduced by those skilled in the art. Thecomputer program may be recorded in computer readable media and read andexecuted by a computer. Computer readable storage media may includemagnetic storage media, optical storage media, carrier wave media andthe like.

In the following description, it will be understood that the terms“including”, “comprising” and “having” mean presence of correspondingelements, unless there is an opposite statement, and does not excludepresence of one or more other elements. All terms including technical orscientific terms have the same meanings as those which are generallyunderstood by those skilled in the art, unless they are defined ashaving different meanings. The terms which are generally used, such asterms defined in dictionaries, are interpreted as having the samemeanings as contextual meanings in the related art and should not beinterpreted as having ideally or excessively formal meanings, unlessthey are apparently defines in the description.

Further, it will be understood that the terms first, second, A, B, (a),(b), etc. may be used herein to describe various elements of the presentinvention. These terms are used only to discriminate one element fromother elements, and the nature, order, or sequence of the correspondingelement is not limited by these terms. If it is stated that an elementis “connected to”, “combined with”, or “coupled with” another element,it will be understood that the former may be directly connected to orcombined with the latter or other elements may be interposed between thetwo elements.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a software hierarchical structureof an electronic control unit mounted in a vehicle.

With reference to FIG. 1, a software hierarchical structure may includean application layer 10, an application interface layer 20, a middlewarelayer 30, an Ethernet hardware abstraction layer 40 and an Ethernethardware and baseband signal processing software layer 50.

The application layer 10 may include application software 11, a talker12 to transmit an audio video (AV) stream in an audio video bridging(AVB) protocol, and a listener 13 to receive the AV stream.

The application interface layer 20 may provide control signalstransmitted and received between the application layer 10 and themiddleware layer 30 and subroutines or functions to process user data.For example, the application interface layer 20 may include a servicemanager 21 providing an application program interface (API) to processcontrol signals and data corresponding to various services related tocorresponding application software and a media framework 22 providingreal-time environments to control a container format, a transmissionprotocol and the like necessary for transmission and reception of the AVstream. Here, the media framework 22 may be implemented as a threadseparated from the application software 11 and provide environments inwhich multimedia data may be processed in real time.

Here, the application software 11 may include a media player, anaudio/video editor, a navigation system and the like. The middlewarelayer 30 may include Internet protocol (IP) middleware 31 and audiovideo bridging (AVB) middleware 32. Here, AVB is a standard protocolestablished to improve a transmission quality of a service streamsensitive to time, such as audio/video, in in-vehicle Ethernetenvironments.

The IP middleware 31 may perform a function of synchronizing andmanaging the overall in-vehicle Ethernet state through networkmanagement messages between nodes connected to an in-vehicle Ethernetnetwork, hereinafter, referred to as NM messages, communication and afunction of processing IP packets for controlling operations and statesof the respective nodes, hereinafter, referred to as command and control(CC) messages.

Further, the IP middleware 31 may perform a function of diagnosing thestates of the nodes through IP packet communication.

Further, the IP middleware 31 may perform a function of sensing andprocessing a transmission error of the IP packet on the in-vehicleEthernet network, hereinafter, an Internet Control Message Protocol(ICMP). In general, an IP protocol provides an unreliable andconnectionless datagram transmission service. Therefore, the IPmiddleware 31 may perform a function of generating a designated errorreporting message and transmitting the error reporting message to asource when an error of the received IP packet is sensed, or generatinga reply message corresponding to a query message and transmitting thereply message to an external terminal, for example, the terminal of anetwork manager, when the query message is received from the externalterminal.

Further, the IP middleware 31 may provide Address Resolution Protocol(ARP) for acquiring a Media Access Control (MAC) address from an IPaddress. For example, in order to acquire the MAC address of a node B, anode A may broadcast a designated ARP request message including theaddress of the node B to an in-vehicle Ethernet network. Here, remainingnodes except for the node B ignore the received ARP request message andthe node B transmits an ARP reply message including the MAC addressthereof to the node A.

Further, the IP middleware 31 may provide Transmission Control Protocol(TCP) and User Data Protocol (UDP). A TCP layer is a higher layer thanan IP layer and may perform functions which are not provided by the IPlayer, i.e., functions related to data correction, such as a dataomission test, a packet reception order test and the like. On the otherhand, a UDP layer is a higher layer than the IP layer but does not checka packet reception order, differently from the TCP layer.

The AVB middleware 32 may provide a media streaming function accordingto IEEE 802.1AS generalized Precision Time protocol (gPTP) and IEEE802.1AS in which a procedure to acquire more precise time informationbetween nodes is defined.

The Ethernet hardware abstraction layer 40 may perform a function ofproviding various functions, i.e., a Kernel Programming Interface (KPI),to the programmer of the middleware layer 30 so that an Ethernethardware device may create an independent program, by providing avirtual hardware platform to the middleware layer 30.

The Ethernet hardware and baseband signal processing software layer 50may include an Ethernet MAC layer 51 and an Ethernet physical layer 52.

For example, the Ethernet MAC layer 51 may include a MAC layer definedby IEEE 802.3 and a MAC layer defined by IEEE 802.1. The MAC, layerdefined by IEEE 802.1 may include a time stamping function defined byIEEE 802.1AS and stream reservation protocol (SRP) and a traffic shapingfunction defined by IEEE 802.1Q.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a protocol structure of IPmiddleware.

With reference to FIG. 2, the IP middleware 31 may include a managementlayer including Diagnostic communication over Internet (DoIP) 210,Ethernet Command and control (EthCC) 220 and Ethernet Network Management(EthNM) 230, a transmission control layer providing communication usingTCP 240 and UDP 250, and a transmission layer providing IPv4communication including Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) 261 andAddress Resolution Protocol (ARP) 260.

As exemplarily shown in FIG. 2, IP addresses allocated to respectivenodes in the in-vehicle Ethernet network depends on an IPv4 addressscheme and IPv6 is not used. Further, the IP addresses allocated torespective nodes in accordance with one invention may be defined sothat, among private Internet addresses defined in RFC-1918, only class Amay be used.

Further, in the IP addresses allocated to respective nodes, an IPaddress allocation rule corresponding to a domain and a group may bepre-defined, and a fixed IP address corresponding to a correspondingelectronic control unit may be automatically allocated according to thepre-defined rule. Therefore, an in-vehicle Ethernet communication systemdoes not require a separate server for dynamic address allocation.

Further, since fixed IP addresses are allocated to respective electroniccontrol units through static IP address allocation, an in-vehicleEthernet network initialization time may be shortened.

FIG. 3 is an in-vehicle Ethernet routing table 300 illustrating an IPaddress allocation rule in in-vehicle Ethernet environments.

With reference to FIG. 3, an IP address 350 may include first to fourthaddress values 310 to 340 depending on the IPv4 address scheme.

The first address value 310 may be an address value to identify acorresponding IP address allocated to an electronic control unitconnected to the in-vehicle Ethernet network. As one example, the firstaddress value 310 to identify an in-vehicle Ethernet IP packet may bedefined as 10, as exemplarily shown in the in-vehicle Ethernet routingtable 300.

As another example, the first address value 310 may be an address valueto identify a specific gateway included in a corresponding in-vehicleEthernet network. For example, if there are two gateways in a specificin-vehicle Ethernet network, the first address values 310 to identifythe respective gateways may be defined as 10 and 20.

The second address value 320 may be an address value to identify adomain connected to the corresponding gateway, i.e., a Virtual LocalArea Network (VLAN). Here, the domain may be a powertrain domain, amultimedia domain, a body domain or a chassis domain, and domains may beadded or deleted according to vehicle types and options.

The third address value 330 may be an address value to identify a groupof electronic control units included in the corresponding domain. Here,the group may be defined based on the function of electronic controlunits in the corresponding domain, interconnection relations, a requiredsecurity level and the like of the electronic control units.

The fourth address value 340 may be information to peculiarly identifyeach electronic control unit in the corresponding group, i.e., ECU typeidentification information. Further, the fourth address value 340 may bedefined such that interconnection structures among the electroniccontrol units in the corresponding group may be identified.

For example, as exemplarily shown in FIG. 3, the first to fourth addressvalues 310 to 340 corresponding to an engine ECU included in an enginegroup in a powertrain domain of the in-vehicle. Ethernet network may berespectively defined as 10, 50, 100 and 20. For example, a static IPaddress allocated to the corresponding engine ECU may be 10.50.100.20.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a hierarchical structure of anin-vehicle Ethernet system.

With reference to FIG. 4, the in-vehicle Ethernet system may have ahierarchical structure including a gateway 400 first to k^(th) domains410 to 440 connected to the gateway, first to n^(th) ECU groups 431 to435 included in each of the domains 410 to 440, and at least oneelectronic control unit included in each of the ECU groups 431 to 435.Here, types and the number of domains connected to the gateway 400according to vehicle types and options, types and the number of groupsaccording to domains and types and the number of electronic controlunits according to groups may be different.

Further, an On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) terminal 450 may be connected tothe gateway 400 through a designated connection terminal. In this case,the OBD terminal 450 may monitor an IP packet passing via the gateway400 or diagnose various states of the electronic control unit connectedto a corresponding in-vehicle Ethernet network through the gateway 400.For example, the OBD terminal 450 may monitor routing paths of all IPpackets or a specific IP packet passing via the gateway 400 and output aresult of monitoring through the screen of a display provided on the OBDterminal 450 or connected to the OBD terminal 450. Here, the result ofmonitoring may be mapped to an actual Ethernet connection arrangementplan of a corresponding vehicle and displayed on the screen of thedisplay.

Further, the OBD terminal 450 may track IP packets in a domain unit, agroup unit or an each ECU unit through IP address masking according touser menu selection by interworking with the gateway 400.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating a method for allocating an address basedon interconnection relations among electronic control units in a group.

With reference to FIG. 5, if a first address value 310 corresponding toa gateway 510 is defined as 10 and a second address value 320corresponding to a first domain 520 connected to the gateway 510 isdefined as 150, 100, 110 and 120 may be allocated as third addressvalues 330 to first to third groups 530 to 550, respectively, includedin the first domain 520.

As exemplarily shown in FIG. 5, an ECU #a1 531 to an ECU #a3 535 mayhave sequential connection relations in the form of a daisy chain.

In this case, based on an ECU connection order, i.e., an order inrouting an IP packet, 000, 010 and 100 may be allocated as fourthaddress values 340 to the ECU #a1 531 to the ECU #a3 535, respectively.That is, the fact that the IP packet routed to the first group 530 istransmitted to the ECU #a3 535 sequentially via the ECU #a1 531 and theECU #a2 533 may be confirmed through only an IP address.

As another example, if an ECU #b1 543 and an ECU #b2 545 are connectedto an ECU #b1 541 of the second group 540 in parallel, 000, 010 and 020may be allocated as fourth address values 340 to the ECU #b1 to the ECU#b3 541 to 545, respectively.

As yet another example, if an ECU #c1 551 to an ECU #c3 555 of the thirdgroup 550 are connected in parallel, 000, 001 and 002 may be allocatedas fourth address values 340 to the ECU #c1 551 to the ECU #c3 555,respectively.

Therefore, if the OBD terminal 500 monitors an IP packet by interworkingwith the gateway 510, the OBD terminal 500 may confirm connectionrelations among ECUs within a corresponding group by analyzing fourthaddress values 340 included in the IP packet.

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating an address allocation method in anin-vehicle Ethernet network.

In more detail, FIG. 6 illustrates an example of static IP addressallocation of ECUs included in a multimedia domain 600.

The multimedia domain 600 may include at least one of a sound outputcontroller 610, a telematics unit 620, an integrated antenna 630, anintegrated display 640, a rear seat entertainment unit 650, a cameracontroller 660 and an integrated media player 670.

With reference to FIG. 6, the sound output controller 610 may controlfirst to fourth speakers 611 to 614 and the camera controller 660 maycontrol first to fourth cameras 661 to 664. Further, the rear seatentertainment unit 650 may control first and second monitors 651 and652.

As shown in FIG. 6, for example, IP addresses corresponding to therespective ECUs may be defined and allocated so as not only to identifydomains and groups but also to identify connection structures among ECUswithin the groups, i.e., hierarchical structures.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an IP address allocation method in anaddress allocation device.

As an example, the address allocation device may be the OBD terminal 450interlocking with the gateway 400. As another example, the addressallocation device may be a separate computer device or smartphone inwhich an address allocation program or application is loaded.

With reference to FIG. 7, the address allocation device may receive thedomain or VLAN identification information and ECU identificationinformation of an ECU, to which an IP address will be allocated, througha designated user interface screen (Operations S701 and S703). Here, theECU identification information may include ECU group identificationinformation and each ECU type information.

Thereafter, the address allocation device may generate an IP addresscorresponding to the input information with reference to a pre-definedaddress allocation rule (Operation S705).

The address allocation device may add the generated IP address to anin-vehicle Ethernet routing table (Operation S707).

The address allocation device may set the generated IP address of thecorresponding ECU and then transmit the in-vehicle Ethernet routingtable to the gateway (Operations S709 to S711).

Here, the gateway may broadcast the received in-vehicle Ethernet routingtable to connected domains. Therefore, all nodes connected to thein-vehicle Ethernet network may synchronize and maintain the in-vehicleEthernet routing table.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an IP packet monitoring method in anOBD terminal connected to a gateway.

With reference to FIG. 8, the OBD terminal may acquire an IP packetrouted by the gateway and extract a source IP address and a destinationIP address from the acquired IP packet (Operations S801 and S803).

The OBD terminal may identify the domain, group and ECU type of an ECUcorresponding to the extracted source IP address and destination IPaddress with reference to a pre-defined address allocation rule(Operation S805).

The OBD terminal may calculate a transmission path of the correspondingIP packet on an in-vehicle Ethernet network with reference to theidentified domain/group/ECU type (Operation S807).

Thereafter, the OBD terminal may map the calculated transmission path toan in-vehicle Ethernet arrangement plan and display the calculatedtransmission path on the screen of a display (Operation S809).

Further, the OBD terminal may transmit a designated IP packet maskingrequest signal to control the kind of the IP packet, which is an objectto be monitored, to the gateway prior to Operation S801. That is, the IPpacket masking request signal may include at least one of domainidentification information, group identification information ECU typeidentification information to indicate an IP packet which will be maskedby the gateway. For example, if the IP packet masking request signalincludes specific group identification information, the gateway mayfilter the IP packet which is transmitted from or received by all ECUscorresponding to the corresponding group identification information andtransmit the filtered IP packet to the OBD terminal.

FIG. 9 is a broadcast IP address table 900 illustrating an IP addresssetting method for broadcasting.

A node connected to an in-vehicle Ethernet network in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention may control broadcasting in agateway/domain/group unit with reference to the broadcast IP addresstable 900. From a different standpoint, control of broadcasting in thegateway/domain/group unit on the in-vehicle Ethernet network may beinterpreted as control of multicasting on the overall in-vehicleEthernet system.

With reference to FIG. 9, if a transmission node desires to broadcast anIP packet to all domains connected to a specific gateway, thetransmission node may set a first address value 910 of a destination IPaddress 950 corresponding to the corresponding gateway, set a designatedaddress value indicating broadcasting, for example, 255, as a secondaddress value 920, and transmit an IP packet including the setdestination IP address 950.

Further, if the transmission node desires to broadcast an IP packet toall groups included in a specific domain, the transmission mode may setaddress values corresponding to a corresponding gateway and thecorresponding domain as the first address value 910 and the secondaddress value 920 of the destination IP address 950, set a designatedaddress value indicating broadcasting, for example, 255, as a thirdaddress value 930, and transmit an IP packet including the setdestination IP address 950.

Similarly, if the transmission node desires to broadcast an IP packet toall ECUs included in a specific group, the transmission mode may setaddress values corresponding to a corresponding gateway, a correspondingdomain and the corresponding group as the first address value 910, thesecond address value 920 and the third address value 930 of thedestination IP address 950, set a designated address value indicatingbroadcasting, for example, 255, as a fourth address value 940, andtransmit an IP packet including the set destination IP address 950.

Information included in the broadcast IP address table 900 may beincluded in an in-vehicle Ethernet routing table. In this case,respective nodes connected to the in-vehicle Ethernet network mayperform multicasting and broadcasting in the gateway/domain/group unitwith reference to the in-vehicle Ethernet routing table.

In the operation of multicasting, at least one destination IP addressmay be included in one IP packet. For example, if a transmission nodeneeds to transmit an IP packet to be multicast to a powertrain domainand a multimedia domain, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 9, the correspondingtransmission node may transmit the corresponding IP packet including twodestination IP addresses for broadcasting in the domain unit. In thiscase, the two destination IP addresses may be set to 10.50.255.0 and10.100.255.0.

Similarly the above method, if an IP packet is multicast to a pluralityof groups of the same domain or multicast to a plurality of groupsincluded in different domains, the transmission node may performmulticasting by setting a plurality of destination IP addresses forbroadcasting in the group unit.

As apparent from the above description, effects of methods and systemsin accordance with implementations of the present invention will bedescribed as follows.

First, implementations of the present invention provide methods andsystems for providing an optimized Ethernet communication method for avehicle.

Second, implementations of the present invention provide a softwarearchitecture for providing Ethernet communication optimized for vehicleenvironments.

Third, implementations of the present invention provide an Ethernetmiddleware architecture adapted to vehicle environments.

Fourth, implementations of the present invention provide methods andsystems for providing an optimized Ethernet communication method for avehicle through which a network initialization speed may be improved byapplying a static IP allocation policy to each ECU in the vehicle.

Fifth, implementations of the present invention provide methods andsystems for providing an optimized Ethernet communication method for avehicle through which a system processing speed and complexity may beimproved by removing and/or integrating unnecessary modules andfunctions in a conventional Ethernet software architecture.

Sixth, implementations of the present invention provide in-vehicleEthernet communication methods and systems which provide a simple andlightweight Ethernet software hierarchical structure and thus have highextensibility and portability.

Seventh, implementations of the present invention provide networkmanagement/control/diagnostic message transmission functions of aconventional in-vehicle Controller Area Network (CAN) to Ethernetenvironments.

The description of this disclosure is merely exemplary in nature and,thus, variations that do not depart from the substance of the disclosureare intended to be within the scope of the disclosure. Such variationsare not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of thedisclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for allocating an address to anElectronic Control Unit (ECU) on an in-vehicle Ethernet networkcomprising: allocating a first address value to identify the in-vehicleEthernet network; allocating a second address value to identify a domaincorresponding to the ECU; allocating a third address value to identify agroup of ECUs in the domain; allocating a fourth address value toidentify the ECU in the group; and generating an Internet Protocol (IP)address including the allocated first to fourth address values, whereinthe generated IP address is set as a fixed IP address of the ECU.
 2. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein an interconnection structure of atleast one ECU included in the group is identified using the fourthaddress value.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the IPaddress has an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) address scheme.
 4. Themethod according to claim 3, wherein the IP address is allocated withina range of class A of private internet addresses defined in Request forComment 1918 (RFC-1918).
 5. The method according to claim 1, whereinmulticasting on the in-vehicle Ethernet network is controlled using thefirst to fourth address values of an IP packet to be transmitted.
 6. Themethod according to claim 5, wherein broadcasting in a gateway unit iscontrolled using the first and second address values included in adestination IP address.
 7. The method according to claim 5, whereinbroadcasting in a domain unit is controlled using the first and thirdaddress values included in a destination IP address.
 8. The methodaccording to claim 5, wherein broadcasting in a group unit is controlledusing the first and fourth address values included in a destination IPaddress.
 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the group includesat least one ECU requiring the same security level.
 10. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the domain includes at least one of a bodydomain, a powertrain domain, a multimedia domain and a chassis domain.11. A device for allocating an address to an Electronic Control Unit(ECU), the device comprising: a unit configured to receive firstinformation that identifies a domain connected to a gateway; a unitconfigured to receive second information that identifies the ECU in thedomain; a unit configured to generate an IP address corresponding to thefirst information and the second information with reference to apre-defined IP address allocation rule; and a unit configured toallocate the generated IP address to the ECU, wherein the ECU isconnected to an in-vehicle Ethernet network.
 12. The device according toclaim 11, wherein the domain includes at least one of a body domain, apowertrain domain, a multimedia domain and a chassis domain.
 13. Thedevice according to claim 11, wherein the second information includesthird information to identify a group in the domain and fourthinformation to identify an interconnection structure of ECUs in thegroup and an ECU type.
 14. The device according to claim 13, wherein thegroup includes at least one ECU requiring the same security level. 15.The device according to claim 11, further comprising a unit configuredto transmit the IP address allocated to the ECU to the gateway, whereinthe gateway sets the allocated IP address as a fixed IP address of theECU.
 16. The device according to claim 15, further comprising: a unitconfigured to generate an in-vehicle Ethernet routing table in which IPaddresses according to domains and groups are mapped; and a unitconfigured to transmit the generated in-vehicle Ethernet routing tableto the gateway.
 17. A gateway for allocating an address to an ElectronicControl Unit (ECU) connected to an in-vehicle Ethernet network, thegateway comprising: a unit configured to receive an in-vehicle Ethernetrouting table, in which IP addresses allocated to the ECU according todomains and groups of the in-vehicle Ethernet network are mapped, froman external device; a unit configured to set an IP address allocated tothe ECU using the in-vehicle Ethernet routing table; and a unitconfigured to transmit the in-vehicle Ethernet routing table to the ECUusing the set IP address, wherein the gateway and the ECU controltransmission and reception of an IP packet using the in-vehicle Ethernetrouting table.
 18. The gateway according to claim 17, wherein, when theIP packet is received, multicasting on the in-vehicle Ethernet networkis controlled using a destination IP address included in the IP packetand the in-vehicle Ethernet routing table.
 19. The gateway according toclaim 18, wherein the IP address includes a first address valueidentifying the gateway, a second value identifying a domain connectedto the gateway, a third value identifying a group in the domain, and afourth value identifying an ECU type in the group.
 20. The gatewayaccording to claim 19, wherein broadcasting in a gateway unit iscontrolled using the first address value and the second address valueincluded in the destination IP address.
 21. The gateway according toclaim 19, wherein broadcasting in a domain unit is controlled using thefirst address value and the third address value included in thedestination IP address.
 22. The gateway according to claim 19, whereinbroadcasting in a group unit is controlled using the first address valueand the fourth address value included in the destination IP address.